Europe 'cannot remain indifferent', says TV body's chief as global media condemns cost-cutting move
The president of the European Broadcasting Union has written to the president of the European Commission urging him to use his powers to force the Greek government to reverse its controversial decision to shut down state broadcaster ERT.
Jean-Paul Philippot said Europe "cannot remain indifferent" to the latest Greek political drama as it is partly responsible, as it was the so-called "troika" – the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and European Central Bank – which demanded savage cuts to Greece's bloated public sector as part of the bail out programme.
"It is our unfortunate experience that the existence of public service broadcasting has come under systematic threat in countries which have been pressed by the European Union or the troika to make savings," said Philippot in a strongly worded letter to Jose Manuel Barosso on Thursday.
The letter comes as Greece's two biggest unions brought much of the near-bankrupt country to a standstill on Thursday during a 24-hour strike against prime minister Antonis Samaras's decision to close down ERT, which they describe as a "coup-like move … to gag unbiased information".
Philippot said the "general political support" expressed in Strasbourg on Wednesday by the commissioner for economics and monetary affairs, Ollie Rehn, for public service broadcasting "does little to resolve the deep crisis" and urged Barossa to get personally involved.
"We believe that the European Commission cannot remain indifferent and should take a clear stand to defend European values and the continuity of public services," he said.
The intervention comes as defiant TV journalists in Greece are continuing to keep ERT alive almost two days after the government announced its sudden death with the loss of 2,700 jobs.
ERT's main TV channel was cut off mid-way through a news programme late on Tuesday night, but journalists occupying the broadcaster's headquarters in Athens at first kept the service alive via the internet.
That feed has now been cut, but journalists have managed to keep going in Thessaloniki with the help of the EBU, which has taken ERT's output and is streaming the service live on its website, www.ebu.ch, reporting that traffic has rocketed.
The EBU has already written to Samaras expressing its profound dismay at Tuesday's abrupt decision and has now sent a second letter to him urging to keep at least one channel open.
Samaras defended his decision on Wednesday claiming it was a temporary measure and that he planned to launch a new slimmed down broadcaster in August.
His decision tipped the country, still reeling from two bailouts, into a fresh crisis, prompted two general strikes on Thursday and widespread international condemnation.
Le Monde in France likened him to Romania's Ceausescu while Greek centre-left newspaper Eleftherotypia branded it "an execution to please the troika".
Several stations around Europe showed solidarity, with Arte in France broadcasting news programmes with Greek subtitles and Tele Bruxelles in Belgium changed its on-screen logo to ERT from noon to midnight on Wednesday.
Despite the growing opposition, the government defended its decision to shut down the broadcaster.
"There have been more strikes at ERT in recent months that anywhere else ... They are acting in a socially irresponsible way," Adonis Georgiadis, MP for Samaras's New Democracy party said. "We are not ending public television. We are making it better."
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